Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-03-12
fun Of the passage from n world to
another.
BYRON

iuH OI INC phcSdSc iIOm one "oiiu W
another.
joked a great deal about it., but when
it came he shivered with horror. Many
an infidel has scoffed at the idea of
fearing a future world, but lying upon
his pillow in the last hour his teeth
Westminster Abbey, an epitaph which
a post ordered to be put upon his
tomb:
Life Is a Jest,
And nj things show II.
thought 40 once,
But nov | know It,"
thought how inapt that, in a place
Of sepulchre. men should try their wit
tiicisms. A great German having re-
jected Christ. in his last moment said:
Give me light, give me light" On,
we may be smart with our witticism
about the last hour; but when il comes,
ana the tides are rising, and the surf
is beating, and the winds are bowling,
will each one, my brethren, find for
himself, that it is
THE SWELLING OF JORDAN
Our natural courage won't hold out
thea. However familiar we may have
been with the scenes Of mortality, how
eve much we may have screwed our
courage up, we want something more
than natural When the
northeast wind blows of the sea
of death, il will put out all earthly
liohts. The lamp of the gospel, God
lighted, is the only light that can stand
in that blast. The weakest arm hold
ing that shall not be confounded; the
strongest one rejecting that shall Stun
bic and die. When the Jordan rises
then in its wrath, the first dash of its
wave will swamp them forever. We
feel how sad it is for a man 20 attemp,
this life without religion. We see what
a doleful thing it is for n mar TO 60
down into the misfortunes of life with
out Christian s~olace; but if that be so,
how much more terrible when that man
comes face to face with the solcmuities
Of the last hour!
Oh, if in the bright sunshine Of
health and prosperity II man feels the
need of something better, how will he
feel when the shadows of the last hour
gather above his pillow? If, in the
warmth of worldly prosperity he was
sometimes dismayed, how will he feel
when the last chill crecps over him?
If while things, were comparatively
smooth he was disquieted, what will he
do ia the agonies of dissolution? IF,
IN the land of peace in which he
trusted, they wearied him, what will
he do amid the swelling of JordanP'
Oh, | rejoice to know that so many
of Gods children have gone through
that pass without a shudder! Some
one said TO a dying Christian: Isn't 1t
hard for YOU TO get out of this world?'
.'Oh, no." he says. it is easy dying, it
is blessed dying, il is glorious DYING
and then he pointed TO the clock IN
the wall and he said: The last two
hours in which I have been dying |
have had more JOY than in all the days
of my life" A general came into the
hospital otter the battle, and there were
many seriously wounded and there was
one man dying. and the general said:
'.Ah, my dear fellow. you seem very
much wounded. | am afraid you are.
not goifig to get we'll" ''No,' said
the soldier. | am not going to get well.
but feel very happy" o.. ! have
seen them, and SO have you, 90 out of
this world without a tear on their
cheek. There was weeping all round
the room, but n weeping in he bed.
There the cheeks were dry. They were
lot thrown down into darkness, they
were lifted up. We saw the tides ris
ing around them, and the swelling OF
the waye. 1t washed them off from
the cares and tolls of life; it washed
hem on to wards the
BEACH OF HEAVEN.
They waved to US a farewell kiss as
they stood on deck, and floated down
further and further, waited by gales
from heaven. until they were lost to
our sight mortality having become i'm
mortality
'Life's duty done, as sinks the clay,
Light from Its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine 10 saw.
How blest the righteous When he dies"
What high consolation to you that
your departed friends were not sub
merged in the swelling OF Jordan, The
Israelites were just as thoroughly alive
on the western banks Of the Jordan. as
they had been on the eastern banks OF
the Jordan; and our departed Christian
friends have only crossed Over-not
sick. not dead. MT exhausted. not ex-
tinguished. not blOtted ont, but with
healthier respiration and stouter pulses.
and keener eyesight. and better pros
poets, crossed. their sins. their physical
and mental disquiet. all left clear this
side, and eternaliy-fowine. impossible
obstacle between them and all human
and satanic pursuit.
CROSSED OVER!
| Oh. l shake hands of congratulation
F, with all the bereaved in the considera-
ton that our departed Christian friends
are safe!